BY JOHN R. BENNETT
Leadership discussions frequently surround holding people accountable as well as holding ourselves and other leaders accountable. But what about who we are most accountable to? When was the last time you loved leaders for how intensely they held others accountable? Truly great leaders hold themselves accountable to the people they represent—their own personnel. Leaders are not just responsible for them, they are responsible to them.
Just what does “being accountable to your people” look like? What should we look for in ourselves or our leaders? How do we recognize it, identify its presence, and evaluate its enaction? It comes down to the long and short game of building people for growth, perseverance, and contribution to themselves, their team, and the culture—and all of it is readying them to be able to evolve throughout their journey.
When building personnel, how to apply a particular method, rule, or practice has endless possibilities. Add in personality differences, cultural dynamics, and individual life influences, and we’re left with no guarantee of an outcome, let alone a direction for personnel development or clearly defining leadership. If those are muddled, we can’t represent our personnel well.
Visible Features: What They Look Like
The behaviors that accountable leaders exhibit share a handful of overarching themes. In this circumstance for company officers and operational teams, three overlapping features stand out: clear parameters for success, standing with your people, and tone. They offer one perspective to help paint a picture of self-measurement and self-accountability.
Clear Parameters for Success
At the crux of leadership failure, you’ll likely find some form of breakdown in expectations. Another way to look at this is to consider the breakdown occurring in either of two places: parameters of performance or outcomes. When those two factors are clear—a pathway and an expected result—success is also foreseeable. This is broader than skill output; it includes everything from daily, mundane execution to advanced initiative; making the cut to professional development; and individual behavior to team dynamics. The closer this gets to the working operational unit and the individual, the more variability exists in just what that delivery looks like. As a leader, you are a tremendous current in the success for which you created parameters.
Standing with Your People
Of all the features, this may be the one we hear about the most but somehow it has the least definition, clarity, instruction, or clear examples. What does it mean to stand with your people, for your people? It’s about being there—physically and mentally—with them. Yet, as their leader, you also need to know when to stand in front of them and when to stand behind them, when to lead the charge or take the brunt, and when to watch them from behind or push them forward. You don’t develop this skill overnight, and it’s not foolproof.
Tone: Your Leadership = Their Road Map
Your posture as a leader sets the tone. Whether by virtue or by subjectivity, tone is the most in-depth component of leadership. Everything, including “setting parameters” and “standing with them,” is part of it. Specific to posture, how you carry your actions is what defines tone in your environment and resonates in those you touch. As a company officer, owning a particular manner of interaction sets a tone that inarguably breeds confidence within the team about the leader who represents them, regardless of differences.
In The Functional Fire Company, Positioning Small Groups for Success and Survival, Chief Scott Thompson of The Colony (TX) Fire Department indirectly threads these visible features 360° through the book.1 From framework to stories, the living vision he builds out incorporates both the small stuff and the huge picture for success, and it all centers on the company officer being accountable to the team.
Observable Elements
Observable elements are the specific observations you would note when trying to figure out if someone is demonstrating one of the visible features above. They are the demonstrations, the behaviors, and even the environments created.
Their Leader Advocate
Holding your people accountable, pushing them in ways they may not want, doing the mundane—this is not just “a” leader advocate but their leader advocate.
As a leader advocate, your interest is in your people’s own well-being. You don’t have to be a high-energy creative to get their attention, nor do you need to sell them on everything. You simply must show interest. Then their interest in well-being becomes self-propagating in the team because they know you’re for them and they know the parameters.2
Team-Centric Drive
Do stuff. Try stuff. Take a look at stuff. It funnels the power of the team back to everyone.1
The more you do with them, the more they’ll have in the bank for context and want to work with a clear picture. The more stuff you try, the more they will be willing to try. The more that they see you put stuff in front of your own eyes, the more they’ll have in front of theirs, and the more likely they are to pick up on something that drives them, that they can hang future growth on. That is live action defining the parameters and tone of the team, function, and growth for success. Advocating leadership through training, Jupiter (FL) Fire Department Deputy Chief Stephen Shaw explains that those “shared experiences” provide the kind of engagement that builds the team.2
Trust
Trust means treating your people as professionals, as educated, as trained, because you believe they can do right.2
That’s the expression of trust we’re all looking for. Clearly, there are periods for all of us and all teams where professionalism, education, and training are still developing. The company officer’s trust levels must adapt to time and environment. Sometimes I was too bold in my unspoken trust, and it frustrated my personnel. It can be overdone. I just wanted them to stay the course or reinforce what they knew. I thought saying next to nothing was enough.
I failed to clearly express my trust in them. Finding that good spot is a two-way assessment including environment and response. A clear tone of trust gives your personnel a confidence in your stance for them.
Freedom
Give your personnel the freedom to be who they are, to make decisions, to choose their paths, and to turn their opinions into actions, even if what they do differs from what you showed them in skills and reasoning. There are timeless arguments about boundaries that are too tight and about finding yourself in the middle of complete chaos. I view it another way: This is not about too many boundaries. It’s about having a home base.
It’s not about having a robotic program to follow, because we’ll never be able to create an algorithm for every circumstance. It’s about having a centerline to work from, just like searching off a wall or old-school CPR ABCs. Start there. Then have the liberty to work along or diverge from that anchor point as needed. When things don’t go right, we tuck back into that foxhole and start from the home framework again to move forward.
As a leader, if you have no centerline to go back to or box to climb inside of, it’s chaos and every person for themself. (If you don’t have a defined leadership centerline, use this article as your own start.) This isn’t just operationally; this is daily work and environment. Instead of a boundary, show your people that the organizational expectations (as well as your own expectations) are a baseline to call home, a safe place, above all. And give them progressive and adaptive freedom to exist as individuals and as contributors around that (instead of within).
Speaking Well
Speak well about them, about other personnel, and deflect credit from you to them. You don’t have to overdo it, overembellish, or pad your comments. (Guilty.) Be straightforward and direct. When your personnel hear you speak well about others, it suggests that you also say good things about them. That just feels good. When you speak well about them to others when they aren’t around, they gain from it by the way others respond to them; sometimes it even gets back to them. That just feels good and makes people want to live up to it.
When you push good credit to others for a job well done, as Shaw explains, it does more than feel good; it gives them something to stand on. That might happen when a business owner thanks you and your first response is to acknowledge with honor how it was the whole crew, regardless to what degree. Or at the table when someone compliments a call or an evolution last shift, and you respond by highlighting how well that other person did or even the overtimer people gave little credit to.
If people are credited for something, they want to embody it, so it drives them to dig into that more. In leadership, “There is evolution in what we do,” Shaw shares, referring to the way passing credit to others builds them forward. That’s propagating a great cycle of professional pride and investment.
3D Boldness
Nobody wants to follow timid leadership and nobody is up for buying into iffy decision making. Boldness is visibly demonstrated not by an overt attitude but by touches in character, decision making, and receptivity that don’t have to be cried out. 1,2,3 A bold person is not necessarily the most comfortable one in the room. Rather, a bold person exhibits three-dimensional boldness through character, decisiveness, and receptivity all at once. Here’s a closeup look at each of these three dimensions.
- Concrete character. Bold behavior has nothing to do with in-your-face mannerisms. It is that which you concretely exhibit, direct, and support and for which you take complete accountability. It is also shown in openly accepting what comes from others, not just what you’re putting out to them. (See Receptivity, below.)
- Making firm and clear decisions. Accountability to your own people is more about the way you make—and deliver—your choices than it is about accuracy.3 I’ve made bad decisions: small ones and really big ones, instant and long-impacted ones. I’ve felt my stomach turn and my face go white. In the end, the clarity of the choice made it easier to own, identify holes, learn from, and (most importantly) rebuild from, for myself and the rapports it might have otherwise damaged.
- Receptivity. Three-dimensional oldness includes being intentional with what is sent your way. It’s not just what you put out. Equally or more valuable is how you receive. To do that, forget self. Focus on the sender. When someone communicates with you directly, don’t hide or deflect, as easy as that is to do. Instead, to receive with transparency, the memorable, impactful leaders drop self and simultaneously let the other person be their own self. The more someone tries to control someone else’s “who,” the less control they have. When situations are a little tougher, let hazardous content (or what feels hazardous to your view) roll off your back by looking for the better meaning. Remain unruffled, and even laugh with them (a little).
Honoring Chain of Command and Respecting Others
Everyone has something to offer. That statement is a fact that took me too long to embrace. I’d heard it, thought I lived it, and even echoed it! What I didn’t do was listen for it consistently. Honoring the chain of command runs in all directions—those you work for, those you stand alongside, and those you serve.4
This includes those who rub you the wrong way, those you feel threatened by, those you don’t feel do a good job at work, and those who really don’t care. I’ll fill a book someday with how much I’ve had to undo my willingness to be open to someone; it would have been much easier if I just accepted them to begin with.
The following are points to keep in mind in your effort to extend honor and respect:
- Acknowledgment. It’s not about being cushy with everyone. Just know that the other kids in the sandbox can be smart, fun, and liked by others. You don’t have to like them. Just recognize them for what they bring. This is called true professionalism.
- Kitchen table talk. Instead of correcting smack talk about others, elevate the conversation. The kitchen table is sacred ground. As an officer, you are responsible for keeping it that way, helping to strike the balance between free thought and honor. Don’t change what was said; simply offer a new perspective. Be willing to say that even those you don’t agree with or who may get under your skin do have something to offer. You may get laughed off sometimes; that’s why we usually avoid doing it. (See Receptivity, above.)
- If you don’t do it, why should they? Lack of respect is a tone. An absent tone is a tone. Are you waiting for someone else to set the tone? If so, it’s set.
Challenges
As a leader, it’s up to you to show a willingness to be uncomfortable or instill discomfort and walk through it together.
While team-centric drive is about demonstrating the tone, challenges refer to creating outside-the-comfort-zone moments, taking your people to the next level, and being a leader who will willingly enter an uncomfortable situation with your stance.
It may be training in areas your people don’t care for, pushing their writing skills, helping them get into an organizational project, accelerating their special teams’ readiness, or anticipating a potential crew shift with an idea different than theirs. Bringing challenges to them at any level, as a team or an individual, and encouraging them through it must go hand in hand. You don’t have to be a hyper-positive cheerleader. You simply have to offer your people the pathway and the tools they need.
- Unspoken hunger. Believe it or not, despite popular opinion, you are being counted on to challenge your people; humans crave that push of mentorship! Further, even when that coachability is not apparent, the community is counting on you. We are here for the citizen first, not the crew member who wants to stay comfortable.1
- Positivity and follow-through = success. Challenging your people positively shows that you are listening, you care about their performance, and you hold a standard for those we serve. While it may sound exactly the opposite of what many personnel convey, the facts show that nobody who is cared about wants to underperform. Underperformers will either realize this is no longer for them or, preferably, find a renewed habitat in something they feel like a contributor to, no matter how small. That’s a success on its own, not to mention an addition to the organization.
These methods are also a tool for you to reinvigorate others and get the team to turn to one another as resources. Fear not. It’s not about losing control; it’s about relinquishing control, building it out so in your absence it’s never lost! That is a clear expression of being accountable to them. Over time, these viewpoints create a very open dialogue to understand and constantly reshape the parameters the team works within. And that’s where you, as the leader, are the trusted facilitator of that cycle.
What It Doesn’t Look Like
It’s often clearer or more concrete to know what not to do. This isn’t about style or opinion, though that may be a gray area when emotions or individual circumstances are factors. When we can objectify our stance, here’s what to check for in yourself (or watch for in your leaders) and what to do about it to ensure you’re not falling short before you even start representing your personnel.
- Laissez-faire, free-for-all, let them “whatever.” This simply isn’t leadership.
- Bad-mouthing disagreeable decisions regularly. Take the high road; elevate the conversation. You can achieve quite a bit and inspire even more with this approach.
- Covering up poor choices by twisting the truth. We’ve all been there with the temptation at the least. Or we’ve seen it with our personnel or our kids. It’s so easy to do. It’s justified as “not lying.” Take the hard, uncomfortable road, often the one that for many of us isn’t the first gut instinct. How many times have you heard, been told, or had to say, “It’s not so much about what you did, it’s that you didn’t speak up”? Twisting the truth unravels the same way.
- Acquiescing to their behaviors. This comes from a lack of willingness to confront situations—a discomfort with it. That feeling is normal. This is even harder with behaviors associated with “assertive” or “cool” firefighter labels. In a four-way spectrum, it’s finding that balance for each situation between giving in and nitpicking, having soft conversations and being a Tasmanian devil in a barrel. Usually, the anxiety over anticipating the confrontational response is worse than the conversation. Look back at the three overarching visible features of this article, and if those are in place, then representing them includes addressing areas of concern. Ultimately, your people will respect it.
- Not addressing errors. This might seem redundant and requires much of the same response as acquiescing. Nonetheless, it is worth spotlighting this specific behavioral omission. There are ways to address areas of concern fruitfully. While each of us may have a style, success is dependent on our ability to adapt our approach to the individual, the environment, and the situation each time. If a unit responds out of the station in a manner inconsistent with the expectations set with the team, don’t expect that they got the idea when you positioned around them at the scene. Even if you’re tempted to skip it, keep their longevity and well-being in mind—they deserve for you to address errors.
- Obstinate application. You will see fatigue if you overuse methods without consideration for receptivity or actual output. Daily routine, training styles, and operational team roles are all factors. Developing a system is a wonderful approach. Once a system is stagnant, it’s time for a fresh look. It may indeed work; however, history shows that few things are effective in their original form after a generation of time. A singular style may work under a particular circumstance. Maintain vigilance for receptivity and effective results. Falloffs are late indicators telling us to get out of our own way—and comfort zone.
- Preventing failure. Not your job in career or in life, preventing failure is akin to codependence. The net result is that you have someone unable to evolve, especially in your absence (see the end of Clear Parameters for Success) and, though it may seem counterintuitive, a loss of your own productivity and true capability. Provide the foundation (tools, training, environment), the feedback, and tons of support.
Taking a Step Back
Leaders can take action that provides direction and sets a foundation. Most of those behaviors (observable elements) have more weight in one of the visible features, but ultimately most of them share some degree of overlap with one another. The observable elements are living explanations of how you recognize it in leaders. They provide us with a measuring stick for ourselves and a bit of a road map on how to get there.
Beyond self, accountable leadership builds a contagious attitude of team performance that reenergizes itself and spreads. It starts with a leader who willingly puts forth the effort to stand for the personnel, be there, get the ball rolling, energize, and support. You taking that stand for your people allows them to stand on their own.
ENDNOTES
1. Thompson, J.S. The Functional Fire Company: Positioning Small Groups for Success and Survival, Fire Engineering Books, Tulsa, OK, 2019.
2. Shaw, S. “Leading Through Training: The Crucial Role of the Fire Service Instructor.” FDIC International, April 26, 2023.
3. Barakey, M.J. Critical Decision Making: Point-to-Point Leadership in Fire and Emergency Services, Fire Engineering Books, Tulsa, OK, 2018.
4. Streich, J. “Dealing with Difficult People and Their Organizational Impact.” FDIC International, April 25, 2023.
JOHN R. BENNETT is a lieutenant for the Seminole County (FL) Fire Department. He has 22 years of service. Since 2001, officer development at the field and organizational levels has become his sense of duty as a senior company officer. External roles in human performance, university instruction, career transitions, project analytics, and organizational collaboration provide constructive context to leverage teams for performance in the firehouse, on the fireground, and in active professional environments.
